Ruching forming and applying machine



1927. Jan 11 A. COLLINS RUGHING FORMING AND APPLYING MACHINE Filed Nov. 2, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 gnuentoz Ari'fiur Collins wwwhvw Rhyming 1,613,983 11 1927' A. COLLINS RUCHING FORMING AND APPLYING MACHINE Filed Nov. 2, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 gnuc nrot A ri'k wr 6'01 222.5

51th:: an,

same to the rubber sheet, usuall thereof, in a simple, rapid an expeditious Patented 11, 192

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE-.

Anrmmcomms, or

AKRON, OHIO, ASSIGNOB TO THE MILLER RUBBER COMPANY, OF

AKRON, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF- OHIO.

nucnme FORMING am) APPLYING maenmn.

Application filed November 2, 1925. serial No. 66,285.

My present invention relates to improvements in machines for applying ruching to rubber sheets used in the manufacture of, or forming wearing apparel such as rubber aprons, bathing caps, and other articles, and aims to provide a machine which will simul taneously form pleats in a relatively narrow or tape-like strip of rubber and apply the at the edge manner.

The invention comprises the novel features of construction hereinafter described. the nature and scope of the invention being defined and ascertained by the appended claims.

An embodiment of my invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of what I at present consider the preferred form of machine embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is an elevation as viewed from the left of Fig. 1, artly in section.

Fig. 3 is a simi ar view of the opposite end.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail view.

According to my invention I provide a supporting table 1 by which the sheet A to w 1ch the ruching or pleated strip is to be applied may be supported, and over which it may be moved, it being understood that this sheet as well as the ruching strip, are of unvulcanized rubber, whereby they adhere to each other when pressed together, being subsequently vulcanized to form the finished article, in the manner well understood by those skilled in the art.

The table 1 has an opening 1 which receives the contacting portions of the peripheries of upper and lower presser rollers designed to press the ruching strip onto the surface of the main strip, and in the preferred embodiment of my invention the upper roller 2 is preferably made in the form of an idle presser roller capable of being lifted in the manner hereinafter described to permit the initial insertion of the material, the lower roller 3 being in the shape of a continuously driven feed roller journaled in stationary bearings. A

The rolling surfaces of the rolls are narrow to permit the operator to readily guide the material so as to apply the ruching to an edge of the material which is irregular or tortuous in contour.

Neither the ruching nor the rubber sheet contain any fabric. The ruching is applied in such a way that one edge of it is permanently set or fastened to the sheet edge, which, as indicated above, may be of irregular or curved shape, such as an apron. It is necessary that any device which will accomplish this be designed so as to always show the operator how far the ruching is projecting beyond the edge of the sheet and also so as enable the operator to manipulate the sheet through the rolls in conformity with its shape.

Attention is invited first to Fig. 4, as illustrating in simplest form the main features of my invention. Here the pressure roller is located above the table and the feed roller located below the table, as shown in said figure, the ruching strip B fed from below being preferably passed over an in-.

clined guide 4. Secured in a suitable manner to the under side of the table 1 is a plane surface guide member 5 which is arranged tangential to the feed roll and which extends forward into proximity to the bight of the rolls. Cooperating with this guide 5 is a pleat forming blade 6 which is movable towards and from the bight of the rolls and which travels in yieldable contact with the surface of the guide 5 when no ruching strip is being fed. Preferably the yieldable contact is secured by making the guide 5 of resilient material. It is obvious that the blade might be moved towards and from the bight of the rolls in various ways, but what I at the present consider the simplest and most efficacious manner of doing this is to make the folder or pleating blade 6 of segmental form curved on the arc of a circle eccentric to that of the roll, and support it on an arm 7 mounted to rock about the shaft 3 which drives the feed roll, said element 7 being in effect a bell crank lever, the opposite arm 7 of which is connected by a link 8 to suitablemechanism for imparting an oscillating movement to the bell crank lever.

The presser foot having been raised and a rubber sheet A laid upon the table with its edge aligned between the bight of the rolls, and a ruching strip B having had its end also brought up between thebight of the rolls, after the presser foot is lowered and the machine started the blade 6 as moves up towards the bight of the rolls will contact with the strip B and carry it forward into the form of a loop 9, shown in Flg. 4, it being understood that the blade is operated so that on its upward stroke it moves at a speed in excess of the speed of the feed roll. The blade at the end of its forward movement, or to the left, Fig. 4, just clears the end of the guide and the pleat thus formed is rolled into contact with the under side of the sheet A, while the blade moves back to form a fresh pleat.

The complete machine shown in Figs. 1 to 3, inclusive, has the general appearance of a sewing machine which may be provided with a wooden table 1 having an opening to receive the operating mechanism which carries the metal table portion 1 provided with the o ening 1" for the feed and presser rollers. e presser roller is carried by a vertically movable member or plunger 9 guided in the head of an overhanging arm 10, this plunger 9 being pressed downwardly by a spring 11 and being capable of being lifted by a finger lever 12, and also by foot operation through a rocking lever 13 fulcrumed-on a fixed pivot in the arm 10 and havin its front end connected to the plunger by mi 14 and its rear end connected by a link 15 with the one arm of a bell crank lever 16 fulcrumed on a fixed pivot, the other arm of which may be connected to a foot treadle, 16".

The shaft 3 of the roll 3 has fast thereon a worm wheel 17 which meshes with a worm 18 on a shaft 19, which in turn carries a worm wheel 20 which meshes with a worm 21 on a drive shaft 22, which drive shaft may be operated in any suitable manner by a rime mover, conveniently by means of a It pulley 23 which may be driven by an electric motor. The shaft 22 has thereon a crank 24 which is connected by the link 8 heretofore referred to with the arm 7 which operates the folder blade.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim 1s:-

1. In apparatus for forming and applying ruching to material, a material supporting table having an openin therein, a presser roll, a. driven feed rofi, said rolls being located respectively above and below said table and contactin through said 0 ening, an inclined guide or a ruching strip discontrol the application of the ruching strip" to'the edge of the material. so as to re late the amount of ruching projecting i yond the edge of the material, prior to passage between the rolls, said table having its surface free and unobstructed whereby the material may be readily shifted by the hand of the operator in applying the ruching to the under side thereof.

2. In apparatus for forming and applying ruching to material, a material supporting table having an openin therein, a presser roll, driven'feed roll, sai rolls being located respectively above and below said table and contacting through said 0 ening, said rolls having narrow rolling sur aces whereby the operator may readily guide the material in relation thereto in a straight or curved path because of the small area of contact of the narrow rolls with the material, an inclined guide for a ruching strip disposed beneath said table tangential to the feed roll and extending into proximity to the bite of the rolls, a folder blade beneath the guide movable toward and away from the bite of the rolls, the opening in said table permitting the operator to observe and control the application of the ruching strip to the edge of the material, so as to regulate the amount of ruching projecting beyond the edge of the material, prior to passage between the rolls, said table having its surface free and unobstructed whereby 'the material may be readily shifted by the hand of the operator in applying the ruching to the under side thereof.

3. Apparatus according 'to claim 1 in which said folder blade is carried by an arm, said arm being mounted to oscillate about an axis coincident with the axis of the feed roll, and said folder blade being curved on an arc eccentric to said axis.

4. Apparatus according to claim 1 in which said presser roll is mounted for vertical movement, with means for pressing it yieldingly downward and means for raising it when desired.

In testimony whereof, I afiix my signature.

ARTHUR COLLIN S. 

